Hydraulic calender



July 27 ,1926. 1,593,653

C. H. ELLIOTT HYDRAULIC CALENDER I Filed July-2, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 vFIG. 1.

62 a I 35 1 I to mama/afar In rorerfhw July 27; 1926.

c. HELLIOTT HYDRAULIC CALENDER Filed Jui 2,

1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Charles II. Ell/off,

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Viol-nay.

"W @NRM Patented July 27, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OIEEARLES I-I. ELLIOTT, OF PHILADELPHIA,

PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO H. W. BUT= TERWORTH & SONS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

HYDRAULIC CALENDER.

Application filed July 2,

I-Ieretofore hydraulic calenders for embossing leathers and other materials have been so constructed that the press roll has been pressed upward against the embossing roll by means of hydraulically operated plungers arranged in cylinders immediately under the respective end bearings of the press roll, and in which further, the pressure is applied to the twocylinders and plungers by means of a hydraulic pump and accumulator under the control of valve devices, with the result that the press roll may be raised or lowered, and during the embossing operation may be caused to impart the desired degree of pressure upon the fabric while it is being fed betweenthe said press roll and the embossing roll.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced, however, in securing satisfactory and uniform results, because it has been the experience that, either by reason of variations in the thickness of the materials being treated or by variations in the surface character of the embossing roll adjacent to one end as compared to the other end, the resulting product has not been uniform or constant in the character of the embossing, the product frequently being formed with an embossed surface in which the embossing is far more sharp and clearly defined toward one side or selvage as compared to that adj acent to the other side or selvage. As there has been no provision for varying the upward pressure upon one end of the pressed roll relatively to the pressure upon the other end, it has not been possible to so adjust the machine as to compensate forany tendency to produce defective results.

The object of my invention is to so modify the gen-era]. equipment of hydraulic calender that the pressure of each of the ends of the press roll may be independently pressed toward the embossing roll to insure greater or less pressure at one end as compared to that at the other end to compensate for any defective condition of the said embossing roll, and with the result that a uniform character of embossed material may be produced under all conditions; and, moreover, bydefinitely noting the pressure conditions under which each end of the press roll is operated with any given embossing roll, it is always possible thereafter to at once so adjust the machine, when said embossing roll is to be 1923. Serial 110,649,177.

used, that the product produced by the calender will be the same in character, thereby saving a great deal of time and avoidance of the production of defective work which has heretofore been necessary when attemptingto adjust the machine.

More particularly, my invention consists in employing independent sources of pressure supply to the two hydraulic cylinders and their plungers, whereby said plungers may be operated under different pressures, and in the preferred manner of construction, Iemploy two hydraulic pumps and separate accumulators which may be respectively Weighted to suit the difference in maintaining pressure which may be required, the pumps delivering to the accumulators while they are in connection with the respective cylinders and plunger; and I also employ suitable manually controlled valve means for controlling the pressure supply from the ac- .cumulators to the respective cylinders and for permitting the said cylinders to exhaust their fluid contents back to the pumps, according to whether the calender is to be in operation for embossing or the press roll to be lowered.

My invention also consists of improvements hereinafter described whereby the above objects and results are attained, .said improvements comprising certain organization and combination of parts which are fully described hereinafter and more particularly defined in the claims.

Referring to the drawings: Fig. 1 is a general elevation of a more or less diagrammatic character illustrating the general ap plication of my improvements to a hydraulic calender; Fig, 2 is an end elevation of the calender proper, together with the hydraulic control valve; and Fig. 8is an elevation of the preferred type of machine in its complete form. t c

The hydraulic calender itself may be of the usual character and, in. general, comprises a suitable housing 2, an embossing roll 3suspended in the housing by bearings 11, a press roll 4 supported below the embossing roll by lateral bearings 13, and upwardly movable supporting bearings 13 at each end of the roll, said bearings 18 supported by the I plunger 12 of the respective hydraulic cylinders 14 and 14:, whereby the said press roll is moved upward with the! desired degree of pressure for pressing the leather or other material, such as coated fabrics, against the embossing roll. As ordinarily these plungers are of the same size and the water is forced into the cylinders from the same pipes and source, it is manifest that the upward thrust at each end of the press roll is the same and cannot be varied; but, "with my improvements, the source of hydraulic pressure for operating the respective cylinders and plungers are dilierent in the two cases in thatthey each receive'their'pressure from a different accumulator, the said accumulatorsbeing supplied with water from any source'or byanymean's desired.

Considering further the hydraulic calender, one end otthe einbossingroll is fitted 'wuha gear g and tliecorresponding end ot' the press roll is fitted with a gear l (Figs. 2 and 3), the respective pitch diameters of these gears corresponding to the diameters of the embossing a'ndpress rolls, so that they roll in contact or upon the material being embossed with equal surface speeds. Thecther end of the embossing roll 3 isprovidedwitha large gear 5 which is driven by "a pinion 6 upon a shaft 7 journaled in the rear of the housing'2, and said shaft is driven by an electric motor 9 through a worm and worm wheel gearing 8 of any suitablecharacter. A clutch 10 may be interposed between the electric motor 9 and the gearing 8, it so desired, for quickly disengaging the hydraulic calender "rom its motive power in case of necessity or where an altering current constant speed motor is employed which develops its maximum power at a given speed. It is immaterial to my invention, either as to the'detail features of the hydraulic calender or of the motive power for operating, as'such devices are well known inthe art.

I will now describe my improvements intended to be employed in connection with such a hydraulic calender as above described. N

First referring to Fig. -1, and 16'represent two pumps driven from a common motivepower or in any othersuitable manher. One 01 these pumps delivers water by pipe 30, under pressure, to the accumulator, 17, and the other similarly delivers water by pipe 24, under pressure, to the accumulator 18. Check valves 31 and are arranged in the respective pipes and 2st to prevent backtlow from the accumulatorstothe'pumps. The accumulators are indicated as ditlerently'weighted, so that a greater power is exerted by the accumulator 18 than by the accumulator 17, and this dii'ierenc'e in the power may be anything whichmay benece'ssar'y to insure the uniform embossing at the opposite ends o'fthe embossing roll. p

The accumulator 17 delivers water, under pressure, through pipe 32, valve 33 and pipe to the hydraulic cylinder and plunger 14 at one end ot the press roll 4, whereas the accumulater 18 delivers water, under greater pressure, through pipe 26, valve 27, and pipe 28 to the hydraulic cylinder and plunger i l at the other end of the press roll 4:. The valves 27 and 33 may be 0perated from common shaft, so that the water pressure issimultaneously applied to the two hydraulic cylinders 14 and 14 under their respective required pressures, or may vent the said'cylinders by discharging the water therefrom respectively through pipes 29 and 35, to relieve the 'pre'ssur'eon the press roll and to'deliver' the water back to the pumping'devices. lVhile,'in the-illustration shown'in Fig. 1, the. greater water cressure due to the heavier weightof the accumulator is delivered to the h d'raulic calender 1 such is only bywayjofij illustration, as the greater pressure "might he delivered to the hydraulic cylinder 14-, it

found necessary to insure proper "embcssin and thi'swould be accomplished by incre ng the weight 19 on accumulate 17 over weight 20 which might be employed on the accumulator 18. In some cases, such as where'the embossing roll 3 was unit rm with its action throughout its length, the water pressure developedby the accumulators may be equal, 'or where there is difl'erential between such 'waterpress'ures it may be greater 'or less,"a'cc'ording't'o the requirements o't the hydraulic calender, and these are readily supplied by the adjust merits in the Weights of the accumulator. Ordinarily, any embo'ssingf'roll 3'would be cperatedin a given hydraulic calender by a definite ditl'erential in the "weighting of the two accumulators, that is, presuming that the embossing roll required to be operated .dcr such a ditlerential in pressures apto the two ends of the press roll. The p cular number or designation of the embossing roll is then'recorded, together with the predetermined accumulator weights for insuring the proper operative pressures. Thereaitter, the hydraulic cal'ender' may 'be put into effective operation by loading the accumulators in accordance with the said record of requirements.

The valves 27 andBS maybe ot'any'suitable construction. and'for' simplicity, I prefer thatth'ey shall be tliree-wayvalves and operated by a common hand controlled means, such as, for example, is shown 'in Figs. 2 and 3. V

Y Referring to Fig. 3, whichsho'ws the employment of independent pumps 15 and 16, of well known modern construction, the said pumps have their driving shafts "operated by large gears 21' which'are'driven by a pinion 22 operated by an electric or other motor23. The three-way val'v'e's areshown as provided with gear segments 36 for imparting a rotary oscillating motion and are driven by pinions 37 on the shaft 38 which is provided with a hand or crank wheel 39. In this manner, both of the valves 27 and 83 are simultaneously operated for supplying water pressure to the respective hydraulic cylinders 14 and 14, and for simultaneously relieving the pressure from said cylinders by discharging the water back to the pumps. Pressure gages 40 may be employed in connection with the supply pipes from the valves to the hydraulic cylinders to indicate the pressure being put upon the said cylinders, said gages being shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The accumulators and pumps may be of any suitable construction and I do not limit myself in any manner to the special features of these devices, as all that is necessary is that the accumulators shall be operated in such manner that they are available for sup plying the predetermined differential in pressures to the two hydraulic cylinders and their plungers l4 and 14 and while further, it is good practice to provide independent pumping devices for each of the accumulators, I do not restrict myself to this requirement, as any suitable pumping means or source of water pressure may be employed to put the accumulators into and maintain them in operative condition for impressing their respective pressures upon the hydraulic cylinders 14 and 14, under the control of the Valve mechanism.

It will be understood that in adapting my invention to a well known type of hydraulic calender, the hydraulic cylinders 14 and 14 have been arranged with their plungers to operate upon the press roll 4, and while this is more desirable than applying the hydraulic power to the embossing roll 3, nevertheless, it will be understood that the principle of operation would be the same if the rolls were reversed in position and, therefore, I do not in any way restrict myself to the immediate manner of applying the hydraulic pressure to insure the embossing operation of the two rolls.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful construction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, and while I have in the present instance shown and described the preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the details, as the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a system for operating hydraulic calenders, a calender machine having embossing rolls, and hydraulic pressure means for separately applying power at the opposite ends of the rolls whereby the rolls may be pressed together at one end with greater force than at the other end and vice versa, combined with two independent sources of constant fluid pressure and in which the degree of pressure is greater in one source than in the other, pipes leading from the separate sources of fluid pressure to the respective hydraulic pressure applying means of the calender machine, and valve devices in the respective pipes for controlling the supply of fluid pressure from the respective sources to the fluid pressure devices of the calender.

2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein further, the valve devices also opcrate to simultaneously supply the fluid pressure from the two sources to the respective fluid pressure devices of the calender machine and also operate to simultaneously relieve or exhaust the said fluid pressure devices when required.

3. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the hydraulic pressure means on the calender machine consist of hydraulic cylinders and plungers and the independent sources of fluid pressure are formed as hydraulic accumulators.

4. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the hydraulic pressure means on the calender machine consists of hydraulic cylinders and plungers and the independent sources of fluid pressure are formed as separate hydraulic accumulators respectively supplied with fluid under pressure by means of pumping devices which maintain the two hydraulic accumulators in operative condition at the same time.

5. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the hydraulic pressure means on the calender machine consists of hydraulic cylinders and plungers and the independent sources of fluid pressure are formed as separate hydraulic accumulators respectively supplied with fluid under pressure by means of pumping devices which maintain the two hydraulic accumulators in operative condition at the same time, said pumping devices for the respective accumulators being mechanically independent.

In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

CHAS. H. ELLIQTT. 

